The rule for using the phrase there is (there are). When is the verb to be used in English?

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Construction there is / there are used to report the location of objects and persons. Remember a simple rule: If Russian offer begins with the adverbial adverbial place (the first word of a Russian sentence answers the question “where?”), then we will start the English sentence with there is / there are. For example: “There is a mouse in the box” - There is a mouse in the box. In this case, the very circumstance of place (in the box) must be placed at the end of the sentence. English sentences with the construction there is / there are are translated from the end (while There is... there are is not translated). For example: There is a bench in the garden - There is a bench in the garden.

If the sentence begins with a subject (“who?” or “what?”) this construction is not used, we translate it as it is: the car is in the street.

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Let us compare two sentences “there is a vase on the table” and “a vase on the table”. The first begins with the adverbial place, and the second with the subject, respectively, to translate the first sentence we use There is a…. - “there is a vase on the table”, and we translate the second sentence without this construction - “the vase is on the table”. If the subject (the thing referred to in the sentence) is singular, then there is is used, and if it is plural, then there are.

Please note that (is, are) in such sentences can be translated as “lies”, “stands”, “hangs”, “grows”, “is located”: There are toys in the box - In the box lie toys, there is a big tree in front of my house - In front of my house growing big tree.
When listing items, There is used is, if the first item listed is in singular(There is a copy book, three pencils and a ruler on the table) and there are, if the first item listed is in the plural (There are three pencils, a copy book and a ruler on the table).

Word order in affirmative, interrogative and negative sentences with the construction there is / there are

Prepositions of place are function words that connect members of a sentence and are closely related to the use designs there is / there are, so we consider them in this post. First, let's remember the prepositions of place and direction in English

On – on: there is an apple on the plate – there is an apple on the plate
In – inside: there are pens in the bag – there are pens in the bag
Above/over – above: there is a picture above the fireplace – a picture hangs above the fireplace
At - at: at the wall - at the wall
Near - near, about, nearby: near my house - near my house
Under - under: under the table - under the table
Below - below, under: below the window - below the window
Behind - for: behind the tree - behind the tree
To - indicates movement towards an object: to school - to school, to work - to work, to a friend - to a friend
Into - inside: into the room - into the room
From - indicates movement from an object: from school - from school, from work - from work, take the cup from that boy - take the cup from that boy, take the book from the table - take the book from the table
Out of - from (from within): out of the bag - from the bag
In front of - in front of: in front of my house - in front of my house
Between - between: between the cupboard and the sofa - between the closet and the sofa
Up - up: up the street - up the street
Through - through, through: through the window - through the window
Across - across (crossing): across the street - across the street
Beside/next to - next to (next in a row): sit next to me - sit next to me

We recommend paying attention to the difference between the prepositions in and into. Phrases with the preposition in answer the question “where?” - in the cupboard - in the closet, in the bag - in the bag, in the box - in the box. Phrases with the preposition into answer the question “where?” - into the cupboard - into the closet, into the bag - into the bag, into the box - into the box.

More about the preposition into watch in our video:

Remember the exceptions: on a tree - in the tree, on the street - in the street, in a picture - in the picture.

Prepositions in English perform many functions, they act as case endings, which do not exist in the English language, are an integral part of countless expressions and should in no case be neglected.

It is with this verb that you need to start studying English grammar. Verbs in English do not change for persons, but the verb to be is an exception. With the help of this verb we will learn to compose simple sentences, which in Russian do not contain a verb, for example, “I am a student”, “he is at home”, “this is interesting”, etc. In English it is unacceptable to form without a verb that performs the action, and to be serves as a linking verb. For example, to say “I am a student,” we must insert the desired form of the linking verb to be and, as a result, the sentence will take on the meaning “I am a student” - “I (am) a student.”

Forms of the verb to be in the present tense

In the present tense, the verb to be has three forms: AM, IS, ARE:

Remember: to be and AM, IS, ARE are not 4 different ones, but forms the same verb:

(We hope our dragon will help you remember this)

Let's look at how the verb to be changes in the present tense

Affirmative form

We are friends - we are friends
They are busy - they are busy
The book is thick - the book is thick
It is a cat
She is clever - she is smart

Negative form

To form negative form the conjugation of this verb must be put negative particle"not" after one of required forms verb (am, is or are). Here are some examples of negative sentences:

I am not hungry – I am not hungry
He is not busy
The room is not big – the room is not big

Question form

To form an interrogative form, you need to put the appropriate form of the verb (am, is or are) at the beginning of the sentence:

Are you Peter? -Are you Pete?
Is this a room? – Is this a room?
Are you hungry? -Are you hungry?
Is he busy? – Is he busy?

To understand how verbs live in the English language, let’s first remember at least one Russian verb in its initial form, for example, the verb “to live”. As you know, Russian verbs in their initial form end in “-т”, and later, when conjugated, the ending changes. As for the English language, the verb in its initial form is used together with the particle to, for example, we say to be – would t, find t Xia, i.e. if the particle to precedes the verb, this means that the verb is in the initial form, and when further using the verb with persons, this particle is omitted. Let's give an example: “To be or not to be” - there are two verbs in the sentence - and both are in the initial form, and they must be used together with the particle to, and, accordingly, we will translate into English as “to be or not to be”. If we have before us the sentence “I (am) a student,” i.e. we have changed the verb to suit the person of the subject, then the particle to is omitted and the proper form of the verb is used, in this case am.
Unlike the verb to be, other verbs in English are not conjugated, for example, the verbs “live, sit, love” in the initial form are translated into English “to live, to sit, to love”, i.e. with a particle to, and when conjugated - without to, for example, “I live, sit, love” will be translated into English as “I live, sit, love,” i.e. initial form of a verb in English without a particletonot used, but when conjugatedtofalls. The initial form in English is called the Infinitive - Infinitive.

More about the particle to watch our video tutorial:

Verb conjugation tobe in the present tense

Now let's learn how the verb to be changes (conjugates) in the present tense. As mentioned above, in Russian, sentences like “I am a student, she is a doctor, we are workers” are formed without a predicate verb. But to translate these sentences into English, you need to put the appropriate form to be after the subject - “I am a pupil, she is a doctor, we are workers.”

Pay attention to the translation of the following sentences into affirmative, negative and interrogative forms into English:

Verb conjugation tobe in past and future tense

In the past tense, the verb to be has two forms - was and were (was, was, were)

In the future tense, the verb to be is conjugated as follows

Note: In modern English the form shall is rarely used to form the future tense of verbs (although its use is not a grammatical error), the form is used for all persons will. Therefore, sometimes there are discrepancies in different textbooks.

To summarize, consider the following table:

Here are some commonly used verb expressions: to be which you should learn and conjugate yourself using the conjugation table:

To be happy/unhappy – to be happy/unhappy
To be glad - to be joyful
To be hungry/to be full up– to be hungry/full
To be fond of - to love, be carried away by something
To be busy - to be busy
To be late (for) - to be late (for)
To be in time for – to be on time
To be present at – to be present at (for example, in a lesson)
To be absent (from) – to be absent
To be married – to be married
To be single - to be single / not married
To be lucky - to be lucky
To be ready (for) - to be ready (for, for example, a lesson)
To be afraid (of) – to be afraid
To be interested (in) - to be interested in something
To be ill / well - to be sick / to feel good
To be angry (with) - to be angry, angry (at someone)

Let's conjugate together the expression to be married in affirmative, interrogative and negative sentences. What did you get?

You won’t envy a person learning a foreign language for the first time. A student thinks in his native language and unconsciously tries to transfer the categories, norms and rules of his language into a foreign language. Therefore, when encountering a concept or phenomenon that is absent in native speech, even elementary things seem difficult to perceive.

Often the stumbling block is the verbs am, is, are English language. It is necessary to take time and understand this issue.

Three-headed dragon To be

The verb to be has no analogue in Russian. The fact is that the verb is more of an indicator of person and number than an independent meaning. To be retains separate singular and plural forms for the first and third person in the present tense.

Other verbs retained only the ending -s, which is a sign of the 3rd person singular, for example, She speak s. The same verb in conjunction with a 1st and 2nd person pronoun will differ from initial form to speak only by the absence of the to particle: “I speak” and “You speak”. The verbs am, is, are are forms of to be. You can focus the student’s attention on this by depicting the verb to be in the form of a dragon, and calling its heads Am, Is and Are.

Translation problems

The translation sounds like “is” or “to be.” The most common mistake young students make is trying to translate phrases like “I am Kristian” as “I am Christian.” This is a delicate moment for beginners learning a language. Such reservations should be corrected immediately.

The interaction of native and foreign languages is very important for the learning process, so the translation should always sound competent and in accordance with the norms of the language. In general, everyone should memorize the verbs am, is, are.

When do they say am and is, and when do they say are?

Verbs are used in the present tense. For the past there are forms was and were, in sentences with the future tense they use the form will be and very rarely - shall be. You can remember the rules for using forms of the verb to be by studying the table presented below.

As can be seen from the table, the forms am, is, was are used to denote the singular, and are and were - the plural. In modern English shall and will are considered insufficient verbs. Both verbs are used only in the form of the present tense - shall/will, and the past tense - should/would.

Shall in current English is used only in the British version. The shall kept his modal meaning and is used only in cases where they want to talk about the inevitability of an event. In British English shall is used with the pronouns I and we, and will is used with the pronouns she, he, it. Carefully study the following table, which shows the uses of the verb shall.

Common abbreviations for spoken and written speech

When used in negative sentences, the particle not is added to all forms of the verb to be. The full spelling is rarely used; the abbreviated form of writing the negation is more common:

I am = I"m, I am not = I"m not;
he is = he"s, he is not = he"s not or he isn't;
she is = she"s, she is not = she"s not or she isn't;
it is = it"s, it is not = it"s not or it isn't;
we are = we"re, we are not = we"re not or we aren't;
you are = you"re, you are not = you"re not or you aren't;
they are = they"re, they are not = they"re not or they aren't;
I (he, she, it) was not = I (he, she, it) wasn"t;
we (you, they) were not = we (you, they) weren't.

In common parlance and for writing, the following abbreviations of the forms will and shall are used:

will/shall = "ll;
will not = won't;
shall not = shant"t;
would/should = "d;
would not = wouldn't;
shouldn't = shouldn't.

As you can see, the shortened form for shall in the present and past tenses coincides with will, and in speech the difference between the use of forms has practically disappeared.

"To be or not to be" - that is the question

What does Shakespeare's famous line have to do with it?

To consolidate the rules for using the verbs am, is, are and others in practice, it is worth practicing composing affirmative, negative and interrogative sentences.

Most effective in terms of practicing speech skills interrogative sentences. It is necessary to train the use of the verb to be not only in the present, but also in the past and future tenses.

Another way to practice your language skills is to memorize short rhymes and poems. Studying poems on foreign language It will not only expand your knowledge of grammar, but also increase your vocabulary.

Variants of using the verb to be and its forms in speech

In speech, the verb to be can be used both as the main semantic predicate and as a connecting or auxiliary part of a compound predicate.

Here are examples of the most common ways to use a verb in speech:

The verb to be acts as the main predicate in order to emphasize membership in a particular group. For example, Sara is a florist (Sara is a florist) or Alan is my brother (Alan is my brother). In other words, the verb to be does not express an action, but states the state of an object and its belonging.
To be plays the role of the main word in a compound predicate along with adjectives. For example, Jilian is a beautiful young lady (Jilian is a beautiful young girl) or The TV-show is interesting (This TV show is interesting).
The verb is the main predicate in statements indicating a place or geographical location. For example, She is at dinner (She is at dinner) or His flat is in the center (His apartment is located in the center).
To be acts as a predicate in comparative constructions. For example, The light is faster than the sound.
The verb to be can play an auxiliary role in continuous tenses. For example, Present Continuous: They are sitting on the ground (They are now sitting on the ground); Past Continuous: We were watching the TV-show when she telephoned (When she called, we were watching the TV show); Future Continuous: Jilly will be singing tonight.
The verb is used to express passive tenses. In such sentences, to be is conjugated in the required tense. The semantic verb is always used in the form of the past participle - Past Participle. Form of all sentences with passive voice one: Passive Subject + To Be + Past Participle. For example, Past Perfect: The breakfast had been eaten before she arrived (Breakfast was eaten before she arrived) or Past Simple: His car was bought in 1995 (His car was bought in 1995).

The verb to be plays a huge role in the English language. Correct use of verb forms is necessary for beautiful and correct speech.

Use is with singular objects and are with plural objects.
Usually used after collective nouns is, but can be used are if you need to select individual objects that belong to a group.
After phrases like a number of… Usually a plural verb is used.

To decide what to use is or are, look at what number the noun is in, singular or plural. If the noun is singular, use is. If it is plural or there is more than one noun in a sentence, use are.

The cat is eating all of his food.– The cat eats everything that is given to her.

The cats are eating all of their food. – Cats eat whatever is given to them.

The cat and the dog are eating as fast as they can.– The cat and dog eat as fast as they can.

These are the most basic grammatical rules of usage. is And are.

Is vs. Are with collective nouns

A collective noun refers to a group of people or things that are treated as a unit in speech. Word committee (committee) is a collective noun. A committee implies many people, but the word itself is unique in form. In American English, collective nouns are used with is. In British English, collective nouns can be used with is or are.

The committee is considering the budget right now.- IN at the moment The commission is considering the financial issue.

The audience is getting antsy. – Those sitting in the audience become restless.

The couple is moving to California. This couple is moving to California.

But even in American English, a collective noun can be used with are when it is necessary to focus attention on individual group members.

The couple are keeping secrets from each other.– This couple keeps secrets from each other.

Is vs. Are with uncountable nouns

Real nouns (also called uncountable nouns) are similar to collective nouns. They refer to things or objects that cannot actually be counted. Water and sand are uncountable nouns. Uncountable nouns used with is in both British and American English.

The sand is too hot to walk on!– The sand is too hot to walk on!

Water is our most precious resource.– Water is the most valuable resource.

Pudding is very easy to make.- The pudding is very easy to prepare.

Is vs. Are with phrases a Number of / a Pair of / a Group of

Collective phrases like a number of or a pair of make you think about what to use, is or are. Which verb should we use when we talk about phrases like a number of people? On the one side, number is a singular noun which implies the use is. But people This plural, which involves the use are. Generally it is better to use are with the phrase a number of. You may accidentally run into someone who doesn't agree with this, but the choice is yours.

A number of people are concerned about the lack of progress.“Many people are worried about the lack of progress.

A number of people are concerned about the lack of progress.

Other collective phrases like group of can be used with is when the emphasis is on the group:

That group of protesters is sure to be distracting.“This group of demonstrators is sure to create a distraction.”

This series of books is phenomenal.– This series of books is simply phenomenal.

But can also be used are when the focus is on individuals.

A bunch of my friends are going to different schools next fall. – A bunch of my friends are going to different schools next fall.

A handful of new books are published each week. – Small quantity new books are published every week.

When we talk about pairs, we usually mean two items as a unit, so it is common to use is.

A good pair of shoes is a luxury in some parts of the world. – Nice couple Shoes are considered a luxury for people in some parts of the world.

Wrong: A good pair of shoes are a luxury in some parts of the world.

There are several verbs in the English language that are not very common, and their use is not always clear to people who have just begun to learn the language. One of these verbs is the verb to be, and is, in turn, is one of the forms of this verb. So what does is mean? Is is the 3rd person singular present tense form of the verb to be. Simply put, we can only use it after the words he (he), she (she), it (it) or words that can be replaced by this pronoun. For example: President, this word can be replaced by the pronoun he, accordingly, after it in English there will be is. But we cannot replace the word clouds with any of these pronouns; only “they” is suitable for it, which is not in this list. Therefore, we can no longer use is after it.

So, the verb to be, and therefore its form is, can be used as:

a semantic independent verb, i.e. a verb that carries the meaning of being or existing. For example: He is at home - He is at home. The meaning of the word is is that he IS at home, but in translation into Russian this word is superfluous, and we omit it. Or She is beautiful - She is beautiful (She IS beautiful). The fact is that in Russian a sentence can do without a verb, but in English there must be a verb;
auxiliary verb, i.e. a verb that helps form tense forms for other verbs. In such cases, it is not translated at all, but serves as an assistant. For example: She is writing a letter now. - She is writing a letter now. The tense is present continuous. Here it is important to remember how this or that tense is formed, and is itself will also be in the 3rd person, singular, present tense;
modal verb, i.e. a verb that does not itself denote any action, but expresses an attitude towards it. It expresses either a planned action or instructions and orders. And always after is in such sentences there is a particle to. In such cases is is translated as “should”, but in different meanings. Let's look at examples that will explain everything to us. Marry is to arrive on Friday – Mary must arrive on Friday (planned action). The boss says he is to call her, because it is his job - The director says that he should call her because it is his job.

This is what is means... Of course, it cannot be studied separately, because it is closely related to other forms of the verb to be, which can only be understood together. Only when the grammatical material is mastered in the system will it be easy to master it.